Nevada Books

This is a great book! It's an easy read, I loved it!
There's a lot of interesting food for thought in this book.
I wonder if I'll every stop thinking about Burning Man!

"What is Burning Man?" Please read this book. This inspired work covers the modern-day history-making event with impressive conciseness and depth. Finish this delightful and philosophical "page-turner" and you'll walk away with the next best thing to being there. If you've never been, perhaps now you'll finally head straight for the Playa. If you've been once or many times, Pendell's work offers such refreshingly complete insight into this massive experience that this reader was reawakened from his slumber in the default world and transported Home once again. Thank you Dale.

More than just nostalgia-maintenance for Burners, however, this book provides a good socio-cultural analysis of Burning Man, allowing anyone a very real entryway into understanding what makes this art happening so special in today's times.

The ONLY fight of the 20th century was fought between a former undefeated champion against a charismatic and despised champion. The events leading up to the encounter and what happened thereafter are explained in detail by Robert Greenwood in his book titled "The Prize Fight of the century".

The book outlines in detail events such as Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson's backgrounds, their fighting careers, the attention the fight drew on a global scale, Tex Rickard's remarkable efforts to pull off a late second switch of venues, and to the demand of the fight itself. The build up of the fight is re-enacted in reading chapter after chapter of this book. The reader feels the tension of the Jeffries camp before the fight and Johnson's negative portrayal by the press during the racial ugliness of the time period. As well as beyond the fight how reformers of the era opposed and almost succeeded in canceling the fight.

A unique look at a very important time period in history is very well written by Greenwood.

Robert Greenwood not only did exhausting research for his book on the Jack Johnson vs. James Jeffries "Fight of the Century," but his enthusiasm for the subject is found on the pages of the tight manuscript that is slightly under 160 pages.

There are so many angles on how the fight can be chronicled and Greenwood does a fantastic job in giving the reader a perspective in the social, sports and historical realms. The classic photographs are worth the price of the book; some even the biggest fan of boxing or American history may be seeing for the first time.

It is a very impressive book.

i'm so sorry, but all the lonely planet books are the best,
i bought many of them, and my last was this from las vegas,
as usual, it was easy, cool and update.

Contained everything I needed to know for a one-week jaunt in Sin City. Where to stay, where to eat, where to gamble and what shows to see. Lonely Planet never disappoints!

This true account of a miner's life in central Nevada around the turn of the previous century, written by one of the children of a large family. The miner was unusual in that he took his entire family when he moved to a new propsecting area. Details of life then you won't find in a history book. I felt like I was living right with them. Wilhelm discovers a high-grade lode in 1909. Better than fiction.

A family of approx 8 children & parents traveling in a covered wagon in search of gold mines and living off the land.Streams were clean and teaming with fish.Fowl and edible animals were plentiful--and no license required.No paved roads,only trails.Time frame 1895-1910.An excellent book for age groups 12 to 100.This book is non-fiction

I liked this book as it was a story back in the 1940's and early 50's of the author's life out on the desolate Nevada desert. It was funny, sad, and the family was close knit and survived on very little but had a lot in love, and good memories. Author said he designed the cover for this book and his wife made a pattern for an afghan, crocheted one, and has the pattern for sale thru Ira Pub., 4208 Jasper Ave., Nevada, 89108. I thought this was a neat idea.

autobiography of the authors young life with his family and the kind of life that was experienced back then l940' and l950'. You wanted to laugh at time and cry at times and it was their life in the nevada desert. It was easy to read and kept your attention. He told of the times that he and siblings had and what they did to pass the time away, while living in such desolate areas. It was a real excellent book for all ages to read.

Having grown up in Boise from a young age (10), this book brought back to me the Boise of a simpler time and place. The author, Pamela Johnston, captures my memories of Boise and provides a moving story of growing up female, with all its uncertainty and heartache. The two young women in the novel (Cindy and Frances), had to make adult decisions at a much younger age than I ever did. Johnston has a way of capturing all that youthful angst and the girls' conversations and perceptions of life ring true. And, ultimately they learn what we all come to know as adults; the life choices we make, including the people we allow into our lives, are truly what makes us who we are.

This is a lovely, heartfelt first novel and I look forward to reading this author again.

We all know that you can't judge a book by its cover, but if we didn't know that we would go for this book at first touch. Holding Little Lost River in your hands, it feels substantial, solid, like it is meant to endure. The cloth binding backed by a page of quality paper with actual texture harkens back to the days when publishers offered substance to their readers. Best of all, Johnston's writing in this book matches the vessel that bears it: substantial, enduring, endearing. Johnston shows us the textures of life in the everyday places we live. She is especially successful at using metaphors that are both subtle and expansive. The title of the book comes from a river that runs "underground and [shows] up again a hundred miles away, in tiny springs that barely resembles the river it used to be." (264) This provides a guiding image for the unforeseen flow of life that Cindy and Frances experience. Along the way, the conversing reflections between the two young women are moving. As I listened alternatively to Fran and Cindy each sharing her perspective on life, I came to understand my own life better. I remembered that some people who made little more than a cameo in my life have still left a deep impression. I saw how I often judge too quickly before knowing the journey that has made people who they are. And more importantly, I learned again that tracing that journey along side of a person can awaken compassion to replace the hastily made verdict. Bubbling up in the middle of the book is the voice of another young woman that works this miracle well. This beautifully bound book covers life in its highs and lows. Johnston invites us to witness life in all its fragility and the love that is necessary because of such fragility.

This book is the product of two passions: Tim Palmer the hiker and environmentalist palpably loves the Sierras while Tim Palmer the artist is drawn to the effects of light on this sacred place. The text makes clear a lifelong curiosity about and education in the many intersecting elements of these mountains. The pictures make clear a sympathy of eye and heart.

Award winning author and photographer, Tim has for nearly forty years been hiking in and caring for the Sierra Nevada range, during which time he has bounded this "twenty-million acre expanse," North, South, East and West in seasonal pictures to create a magnificent photographic rendering of one of our most spectacular terrains. This remarkable book leads us into the Sierras as he felt them first-hand in 1968: "I had the distinct feeling of going not so much higher but rather deeper into the folds of warping rock, deeper into the forests of lodgepole pine, deeper into the glacial enclaves once buried in ice but now drowned in pure luminous light so rich it seemed drinkable in yellow and gold."

We are taken deep into the Sierras in pictures that praise the intimate as well as the magisterial. Tim's eye, balanced and wide-ranging, finds delight in the lone marmot, the brilliant California poppy, the architectural columns at the Devil's Postpile, the lunar landscape of Mount Gayle, the immanent power of the Tuolomne River at Glen Aulin Falls, and the breathtaking, distant sweep of Mount Humphreys and the Eastern Sierra.

Anybody who has ever been moved by a mountain, lake, stream, tree or flower needs to get hold of this book.

The beauty of the Sierra Nevada mountains - something that doesn't get old to just stare at, even in photographic form. "Luminous Mountains: The Sierra Nevada of California" is a compilation of well over one hundred and thirty five photographs of the beautiful mountain range in various states of day, displaying a different type of beauty through each time of a day. An ideal coffee table book for lovers of beautiful scenery, "Luminous Mountains: The Sierra Nevada of California" is ideal for any community library collection focusing on nature photography.

My husband had a convention in Las Vegas last month and the thought of spending a week there was unbearable. Before I picked up this book, I thought Vegas was all casinos and tacky shows. I was happy to learn (and experience) that there is more to vegas than the casinos! With the guidance of this book, I was able to pick out the casinos I wanted to visit (when in Rome...) and then I was able to plan things to do outside of the casinos. After a few days on 'the strip', I ventured out and went on a few of the 'excursions' - which gave me a great break and I saw some amazing things that I didn't know where right there!

This book is a great addition to the Michelin collection!! I love it! I was in vegas last week for a convention and this book helped me find things to do in my spare time.

The Mobil Travel Guide for California was invaluable for our recent trips on the California coast and to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. My past experience with other Mobil Travel Guides is that their information is complete and accurate. The ratings system for hotels and restaurants are reliable and will steer you to excellent values and quality establishments. Unless an establishment is brand new, it is a safe bet that it has not been included in the Guide for a reason. The Guide is especially helpful for families who are looking for a quality hotel room or meal for a reasonable price.

We have used the maps in the Guide and it has helpful information for planning trips, including mileage and time between destinations. The individual listings of motels, hotels and restaurants give useful information regarding decor, amenities and pets. We moved our family and pets across country using the Mobil Guide to find hotels that accepted dogs in our price range. This is the finest resource for domestic travel that I have seen. I recommend that you buy it for planning your trip and don't forget to bring it along. We changed our travel plans in the Mojave desert and made reservations on our cell phone using the Mobil Guide to California and the West!

The guide has a nice layout, which makes things easy to find. Each section gives a general overview of what there is to do in an area; this is a great starting point if you are not familiar with the location. I think this would be a great asset to anyone traveling about in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.

There can be no perfect and complete treatment of mules, horses and packing in the Sierra Nevada. This is a major effort and does very well starting with Spanish exploration in the mid-1700s to the early 1950s. Mules are generally significantly smarter than horses. Mules take care of themselves and their feet better than horses. As a cross between a male donkey and a female horse, mules get the best of both parents ("hybrid vigor") and are able to carry heavy loads over long distances in difficult conditions. Theodore Solomons explored much of what is now the John Muir - Pacific Crest Trail in the Sierra Nevada with his mule "Whitney."

There are strong contributions from Norman "Ike" Livermore, Secretary of Resources for California under Governor Ronald Reagan. Livermore's 1936 business master's thesis at Stanford University was on the High Sierra Packing Business. Now in his 90s we are fortunate to have some of his and many others' collective wisdom and knowledge as a part of this book. Jim Synder, Yosemite Natl Park Historian has worked diligently to collect grazing and packing history.

Backpackers today have limited understanding the role pack stock has played in the Sierra Nevada since the 1850s. Trails and bridges are largely built to stock standards. Large wood-burning stoves, structural steel, large diameter cable, bridge decking, trail signs, tools and support for trail crews and recreational visitors have all been carried into and out of the backcountry by mules and horses.

Use of pack stock peaked from 1950 to about 1970. Backpacking took off in the early 1970s. In many cases urban back packers with no knowledge or experience of stock viewed stock as foreign, intrusive and not compatible or sustainable with Sierra Nevada ecosystems. The Sierra Club Foundation, National Park Service, universities and National Forest Service began investigating outings impacts in the 1970s. Much abuse was inflicted by concessionaire, government and packer stock on meadows in the past. Where formerly parties were large with huge impacts on the ecosystems, parties became smaller and could carry propane and not burn wood. For many years backcountry rangers with a horse and mule(s) patrolled large areas, did extensive trail maintenance and hauled refuse that had accumulated since the 1930s out of the backcountry. A backpacker walks the trails today, sees little or no refuse and thinks things are pristine and have "always been this way." In fact, stock carried huge amounts of supplies and tools in and large amounts of refuse out.

Costs and logistics caught up with many pack outfits in the 1970s. The effort to care for and maintain stock year-round for packing between June and October became cost prohibitive. Urban dwellers often balk at paying $150 to $250 per day for a packer and a mule.

The collective and historic wisdom of working with stock in the Sierra Nevada has been lost to a large extent in the National Forests and to a lesser extent in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Budget cuts have eliminated many with intimate knowledge of stock who worked 30, 40, 50 or more seasons in the Sierra Nevada. It has always been difficult to be a "mountain mule man" and is more difficult now. Sierra Nevada management has largely moved to sustainability and away from resource extraction as evidenced by establishment of Giant Sequoia National Monument, contiguous formal wilderness from the northern to southern Sierra Nevada, requirement for wilderness permits. The Sierra Nevada Alliance is making comprehensive efforts toward "whole watershed" sustainble management. Recent court actions have made stock use follow the same restrictions as backpackers - limiting the size and number of groups, with or without stock.

A packer must be good with people, horses, mules and government personnel. A packer must fix water bars, saw through downed trees, chase down reluctant mules, efficiently pack loads that stay on over difficult terrain in strings of mules, take care of horse and mule feet, take care of themselves - all independently without help.

The "University of the Wilderness" is a magnificient education where the receptive "learn the questions to answers we have not yet learned how to ask." Mules are an integral part of a Sierra Nevada university education - now increasingly hard to come by. Mules are excellent teachers if you are patient and willing to listen, watch and learn. Louise Jackson has done a major service touching on a portion of the history of mules, people and stock operations in the Sierra Nevada. This is a good read!

This book is well-written and entertaining. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of Sierra or the use of livestock, as well as to anyone who has spent time in the Sierra back country. The author does a wonderful job of presenting the facts in a manner that brings the era and the people alive. The history of packing is provided against the backdrop of the broader Sierra history, putting it in context that makes the role of packing clear.